Forage fish, also called prey fish or bait fish, are small fish which are important food for larger predators including larger fish, seabirds, sea lions and whales. Forage fish, such as anchovies, sardines,, feed near the base of the food chain on plankton.
Anchovies
CINMS Region

SoCal Shelf Region

Hake
CINMS Region
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Relative abundance of key forage fish groups collected in net samples during spring CalCOFI cruises at sites in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) and Southern California Shelf regions from 1978 to 2015. High energy taxa are Pacific sardines, northern anchovies, and Myctophids. Medium-energy taxa are Pacific hake, shortbelly rockfish, and sanddabs. Although sardine were completely absent in net samples from 2011 to 2014 in the CINMS region, comparison with samples collected in the larger Southern California Shelf region reveal that sardine were at very low abundance but not completely absent from the region. For more information, consult Figure App.F.12.19.hake in the CINMS 2016 Condition Report.
SoCal Shelf Region
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Relative abundance of key forage fish groups collected in net samples during spring CalCOFI cruises at sites in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) and Southern California Shelf regions from 1978 to 2015. High energy taxa are Pacific sardines, northern anchovies, and Myctophids. Medium-energy taxa are Pacific hake, shortbelly rockfish, and sanddabs. Although sardine were completely absent in net samples from 2011 to 2014 in the CINMS region, comparison with samples collected in the larger Southern California Shelf region reveal that sardine were at very low abundance but not completely absent from the region. For more information, consult Figure App.F.12.19.hake in the CINMS 2016 Condition Report.
Myctophids
SoCal Shelf Region
A figure showing the relative abundance of myctophids (Myctophidae) collected during the spring around the Northern Channel Islands and the Southern California Shelf from 1978 to 2018. Data source: CalCOFI; Figure credit: A. Thompson/NOAA; Ben Best/EcoQuants.
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Relative abundance of key forage fish groups collected in net samples during spring CalCOFI cruises at sites in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) and Southern California Shelf regions from 1978 to 2015. High energy taxa are Pacific sardines, northern anchovies, and Myctophids. Medium-energy taxa are Pacific hake, shortbelly rockfish, and sanddabs. Although sardine were completely absent in net samples from 2011 to 2014 in the CINMS region, comparison with samples collected in the larger Southern California Shelf region reveal that sardine were at very low abundance but not completely absent from the region. For more information, consult Figure App.F.12.19.myctophids in the CINMS 2016 Condition Report.
Rockfish
SoCal Shelf Region
A figure showing the relative abundance of shortbelly rockfish (Sebastes jordani) collected during the spring around the Northern Channel Islands and the Southern California Shelf from 1978 to 2018. Data source: CalCOFI; Figure credit: A. Thompson/NOAA; Ben Best/EcoQuants.
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Relative abundance of key forage fish groups collected in net samples during spring CalCOFI cruises at sites in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) and Southern California Shelf regions from 1978 to 2015. High energy taxa are Pacific sardines, northern anchovies, and Myctophids. Medium-energy taxa are Pacific hake, shortbelly rockfish, and sanddabs. Although sardine were completely absent in net samples from 2011 to 2014 in the CINMS region, comparison with samples collected in the larger Southern California Shelf region reveal that sardine were at very low abundance but not completely absent from the region. For more information, consult Figure App.F.12.19.rockfish in the CINMS 2016 Condition Report.
Sanddab
SoCal Shelf Region
A figure showing the relative abundance of Pacific sanddab (Citharichthys sordidus) collected during the spring around the Northern Channel Islands and the Southern California Shelf from 1978 - 2018. Data source: CalCOFI; Figure credit: A. Thompson/NOAA; Ben Best/EcoQuants.
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Relative abundance of key forage fish groups collected in net samples during spring CalCOFI cruises at sites in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) and Southern California Shelf regions from 1978 to 2015. High energy taxa are Pacific sardines, northern anchovies, and Myctophids. Medium-energy taxa are Pacific hake, shortbelly rockfish, and sanddabs. Although sardine were completely absent in net samples from 2011 to 2014 in the CINMS region, comparison with samples collected in the larger Southern California Shelf region reveal that sardine were at very low abundance but not completely absent from the region. For more information, consult Figure App.F.12.19.sanddab in the CINMS 2016 Condition Report.
Sardines
SoCal Shelf Region
A figure showing the relative abundance of Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax) collected during the spring around the Northern Channel Islands and the Southern California Shelf from 1978 to 2018. Data source: CalCOFI; Figure credit: A. Thompson/NOAA; Ben Best/EcoQuants.
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Relative abundance of key forage fish groups collected in net samples during spring CalCOFI cruises at sites in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) and Southern California Shelf regions from 1978 to 2015. High energy taxa are Pacific sardines, northern anchovies, and Myctophids. Medium-energy taxa are Pacific hake, shortbelly rockfish, and sanddabs. Although sardine were completely absent in net samples from 2011 to 2014 in the CINMS region, comparison with samples collected in the larger Southern California Shelf region reveal that sardine were at very low abundance but not completely absent from the region. For more information, consult Figure App.F.12.19.sardine in the CINMS 2016 Condition Report.